R320cdi Sound system Problem

[V12]

Car is a 56 Plate LWB R320cdi with Harman Kardon, COMAND, phone system and rear entertainment options.

Everything working happily one day. Went to the car the next and no sound. Everything appeared to work fine on the comand, just no audio from any source at all.

Plugged it on to star. Current fault in the Audio Gateway pointed straight to the amplifier when doing a wake up test. Tried restarting the optical ring, no difference.

Checked power at fuse 35, all good.
Took out passenger seat and gained access to amplifier under seat. Check power at amp, all good.

Rest of the MOST ring seems to be working perfectly.

We presume from this that the amplifier is faulty. Quick check of the part number reveals A2518209589 at £850!!

So, the question is, can anyone repair these? There must be a slightly cheaper option.

I undid the small torx screws to check for any burn marks or signs of overheating, the pcb and all components looked like brand new and the fan was easy to spin by hand, so I presume it's not jammed or overheated.

I'm dreading that this may turn into a ridiculous main dealer bill by the end of the week.

Any help or advice appreciated.

 

[jaymanek]

Doesnt sound like a coded part so ring around the breakers.. Also its the same as a W164 ML part.

Failing that the only people that may repair it is BBA Reman... but not had much luck with anything ive sent to them recently!

 

[V12]

The car hasn't really been used for a few weeks, so it hasn't been much of a problem.

BBA said no to it straight away. Apparently it's too old and parts are not available to do repairs...

MB are telling me the superseded number is a2518706689 which is now £1012 and the wording of the parts guy was "maybe they have upgraded some components to stop further failures"

Sooo, any other places I can try to contact about repairs?

 

[John]

Similar situation?

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/138908-cl63-amp.html

 

[V12]

Ouch, yes, same deal I guess.
His is BE 7021, ours is BE 7020, they probably share a lot of the same internals i'd imagine.
Thanks for the heads up.